Mr. Krishnanand Rai was an Indian politician from Bharatiya Janata Party. He was born on December 11, 1955 in the Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh, India. Youngest of the three brothers, he started his schooling in his native village Gondaur.A joint family environment instilled great family values in him. He lost his mother at an early age but never felt her absence because of his caring grandmother. If his elders and family members are to be believed, he was coy but very focused and hard working. At the age of 13 he moved to Varanasi to join the Central Hindu School. His hard work and determination soon helped him gain appreciation from school teachers as he turned out to be a bright student. In Varanasi, he stayed with his elder brothers who also came to the city for higher studies. Varanasi was considered to be the hub of knowledge and a place with nice schools and colleges.
Contents |
Mr. Rai attended BHU, when he decided to get into medicine. In his college days, he came across people like Manoj Sinha (B.J.P M.P) and Narendra Singh (Prof B.H.U) who later became his close friends. This was the time when politics drew some attention but the importance of becoming a bread winner for the family and supporting it led to abeyance of aspirations/plans and finding work instead.
He started his career as a contractor, becoming one of Varanasi's renowned builders. His initial work included government funded roads, bridges etc. but later on he moved towards construction of residential buildings/apartments. His first project in Varanasi was the "Kashiraj Apartments". Later on he completed several other major projects, becoming the pioneer in the field. During that phase, he was accompanied by Mr. K.B Khare and Mr. K. Kapoor (other two renowned builders of Varanasi).
After several ventures, Mr. Rai finally decided to do something that he pined. He kept his aspirations of becoming a politician (doing something for his people) alive and represented Mohammadabad in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, becoming a key member of the Purvanchal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mr. Rai strongly represented Hindu sentiments and culture. The fact that he belonged to the powerful Bhumihar Brahmin caste, increased his influence in politics. His stature and charisma soon gathered respect and admiration from both his party, B.J.P and people of eastern Uttar Pradesh. He entered politics by running for the Mohammadabad Assembly seat in the 2002 elections against Afzal Ansari. He won the election with flying colors. He firmly believed that politics gives two kinds of powers, incentive power and coercive power. He discovered it to be a way to reward people.[1]
Mr. Rai was murdered on November 29, 2005, while he was visiting his family in his native village.[2] The killing of Krishnananda Rai invited a massive public ire in the region. Senior BJP leaders Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, Shri L.K. Advani, Shri Rajnath Singh, Shri Kalyan Singh, etc. demanded a CBI inquiry into the killing, which the government rejected. There are more than 22 criminal cases against Mukhtar Ansari. People fear to report any complain against him. But in the case of Rajendra Rai and Krishnananda Rai named FIRs were registered against Mukhtar and Afzal Ansari. When deputed to investigate the case, Bhajani Ram Meena, police superintendent posted in the district, left the case in middle alleging undue high pressure and he requested to transfer the case to the CBCID. After six months the CBCID too surrendered the case complaining pressure and recommended transfer of the case to the local police. Finding no remedy, the wife of Krishnananda Rai filed a writ in Allahabad High Court demanding a CBI inquiry into the killing of her husband. The Court after hearing the arguments in May 2006 ordered a CBI inquiry. But the Mulayam Singh government went to the Supreme Court against the High Court order. The Supreme Court in July last year wondered over the action of the UP government and rejected the SLP of the state government. Now the CBI inquiry has begun in this case. Four accused of the case, Mukhtar, Afzal, Jiva and Aijaj, are in the Ghazipur jail. They tried to seek bail from the High Court but failed.
Mr. Rai is survived by his two sons and his wife, who stay in Varanasi.